The 25 players who will define the 2024-25 NBA season

I
t’s a new era in the NBA, one defined as much by the lack of a singular defining team or player as the previous one was defined by Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There has been a new champion in each of the past six consecutive years, with no defending champion making it past the second round in their run-it-back season. It appears it’s never been harder to create and sustain a dynasty, with the top of the league always extremely competitive and a new collective bargaining agreement making it nearly impossible — or, at least, impossibly expensive — to keep successful cores together.

With those realities come new opportunities. The stars who have defined the 2010s are into their late 30s, looking for one more quality run at a title. The stars who have defined the early 2020s have, universally, not repeated at the top. There are openings for new faces of the league, new star players, and new champions. There’s also an opening for the defending-champion Celtics to buck all of this, pay half a billion dollars in salary and taxes, and fend off the next wave of contenders for at least one more year.

Whether it’s the players still holding on, the players still trying to rise up, a universe-altering sophomore, or the next big thing in the draft, Michael Grange and Blake Murphy take a look at the 25 players who will define the 2024-25 NBA season.